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Science, money, dedication all building namesakes

The artistic nature of architecture can yield an array of interpretations, but a building's history can be as concrete as the physical foundations supporting the structure.

Whether it is a story of financial benefactors, trailblazers in science and technology or memorable administrators, every building has a story.

Here is a quick overview of the stories behind some of the University of Arizona buildings - and the people who shaped those stories.

Home of the Wildcats

At the turn of the century, Tucson High School baseball teams - coached by James Fred "Pop" McKale - frequently defeated college players from UA and Tempe Normal School (later known as Arizona State University).

In 1914, after many embarrassing losses, President A.H. Wilde hired McKale as athletic director and coach of all UA teams - at a salary of $1,700 per year.

Though his funding continued to decrease, on Nov. 7, the football team played an important game against Occidental.

UA lost 14-0, but when Los Angeles Times reporter Bill Henry wrote "the Arizona men showed the fight of Wildcats," the team had an official mascot.

Pioneers in Research

In 1901, astronomer Andrew Douglass began researching tree ring patterns in Flagstaff to determine a link between solar phenomena and weather on Earth.

By 1927, he had created a virtually complete chronology of Southwestern tree growth while working in the UA Science Hall.

Douglass started the field of dendochronology and established the UA Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research in 1936.

Douglass also worked closely with Emil Haury, one of the leaders in Southwestern Archaeology. Haury, one of UA's first students to receive a master's degree in archaeology, was appointed head of the anthropology department in 1937, and continued to expand the department over his 30-year tenure.

Another duo of researchers were memorialized in building form during the early 1980s.

Before joining the UA in 1966, geologist Laurence Gould, had served as both a polar research specialist for Robert Byrd's expedition to Antarctica and as president of Carleton College.

His colleague, George Simpson, was an expert on animal fossils and Darwinian evolution when he came to Tucson in 1967. Today the Gould-Simpson building is home to the Geosciences Department.

A St. Patrick's Day to remember

Back in 1904, St. Patrick's Day meant an unofficial holiday from classes, but newly appointed President K. Charles Babcock did not agree.

He responded to students requests for a St. Patrick's Day holiday with a memo scripted in emerald ink, reading "I may be 'green' but not so 'green' as this."

With the student body already resentful of Babcock, they launched "the Great Rebellion", and many ditched classes and paraded downtown. Leaders of the strike were suspended and a representation of Babcock was hanged on campus in effigy.

Presidents, Deans and Regents

Don't get "Cat Scratch Fever" while walking down the UA Mall; the Nugent building was not named for rock legend Ted.

Rather it was Robert Nugent, who worked as a dean and vice president for more than 10 years.

University administrators have provided a multitude of naming resources for buildings.

Many of the structures are related to the work of their namesakes, like Robert H. Forbes, dean of the College of Agriculture from 1915 to 1918; and John Crowder, Fine Arts Dean from 1951 to 1957.

Long before Selim M. Franklin and William Herring served on the Arizona Board of Regents, Homer LeRoy Shantz, Richard Harvill and Andrew Douglass all graced the steps of Old Main as UA presidents.

Maybe someday even President Peter Likins will hold such a distinction.